Not to be Taken for Granted
by Sally B. Mcgill
Summary: Take place after Felicie is taken back to the orphanage. What was going through her head as she spent her lifeless days away from Paris and the Opera House. Please, don't knock it before you try it.


**A/N: A fanfic I thought of when imagining the sad moment of Ballerina when Felicie has lost her spirit and is resorting to talking to chickens because her only friend is lost to her. Enjoy.**

Felicie watched from afar as the other orphanages engaged in some small activities or read quietly to themselves. She preferred to give them a wide berth because she had discovered that all any of the other kids wanted to talk about was her trip to Paris. And, to their unbelief, that was one of the very things she would very much like to forget.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen." That was a particularly famous quotation Victor liked to bestow on her regularly, usually after she had once again fallen off the roof or when she had made another mess while dancing. She never had fully gotten the meaning until this very moment. Now, she was living proof of how far someone can fall from grace. Especially when it was due to their stupidity.

As she looked around the place she had spent most of her life in, Felicie couldn't help but think of Victor now. The last time she had seen the orphan boy, she had called him an idiot and left him behind on the Eiffel Tower, unable to accept the truth of his words to her. Or how horrid a friend she had become in the time spent in Paris. She had never acknowledged what a great inventor he was, creating wings by studying chickens and fixing her music box. Felicie had treated him more like a convenience than a best friend.

And Odette… Felicie had hurtfully screamed how she wasn't her mom, but that woman had defended her, helped her from the moment they met. She had been kind to her, encouraging and so loving. Odette had done everything a mom would and more. Felicie had yelled at her for trying to help.

It was astounding how ending up back where you started could make you realize all the mistakes you've done that would guarantee such results. The number one error on her part being her inability to appreciate what she had fully.

Camille's words had cut her much deeper than she had originally thought. She didn't know who she was, and therefore, was nothing. And adding Victor's words about who exactly she was trying to be to the mix made her realize that the whole time in Paris she was desperately attempting to be someone she just wasn't.

She stole Camille's identity so she could get into the dance class, then proceeded to keep deceiving everyone around her. Odette had gone along with it because she wanted to flourish her dream and help her become someone great. And she had never actually thanked her for that, for risking everything for Felicie's love for dance.

And she had pushed aside both Odette and Victor because she wanted a chance with Rudy, someone she had assumed saw her as something worthwhile. She had been enamored with him, not because she found him charming or anything, but because she liked how he made her feel. His words and insistences about her potential had left her feeling confident and happy. But, it was not even real on his part.

The shame that filled her body when she remembered the look on Victor's face when he saw her show up with Rudy. She didn't defend him from the blonde-haired boy when he called the orphan dirty or a beggar. And the way she had yelled at Odette when she was trying to advise? Unforgivable.

Looking back at the whole thing now, Felicie could realize that her treatment of the two had stemmed from Camille's insistence that she was nothing. So, she made sure to cut away everything that was connected to her life as an orphan and talentless ballet dancer. Victor represented the life she had before Paris, while Odette was a reminder of how much she had to work to become who she was now.

It was grossly unfair and showed that she took for granted Odette, Victor and the opportunities presented her. She had the chance to dance in front of Paris like she had always dreamed of, and had lost it when she made the wrong choices. She had let her insecurities and thoughtlessness stop her from doing what she should and for that, she was truly sorry.

Odette had asked her the question why did she dance. She didn't have an answer then, and she still had no answer now. But when she thought of her last moments with the two people she cherished the most, Felicie could comprehend how her spirit, her passion had disappeared. Rudy had somehow convinced her that she was somehow better than her orphan friend and the disabled caretaker, and she had believed him.

"Pride goeth before a fall." Another favorite saying of Victor's. Perhaps if she had kept herself in check and opened her eyes to the people who mattered, none of this would have happened. Perhaps she would be in Paris now, living with Odette, hanging out with Victor, training to dance before all of Paris. That all seemed like a distant dream now, forever out of her reach.

She wondered… If she had had the chance to do it all over again, how would things have gone? What if she hadn't been so dismissive of Victor? What if she hadn't screamed at Odette and followed her advice? What if she hadn't fallen for the hollow words that Rudy spewed with ease? What if she had done and said the right things from the beginning? Would she have gotten her ever after? Would she have kept her life in Paris and never seen the orphanage again?

So many unanswered inquiries about a life that was never meant to be. Now Felicie could only reap what she had sowed. Due to her bad choices and judgment, she was once again back inside the prison that was the orphanage, and she had no hope or inclination to escape now. It was her punishment for neglecting the people who had helped her from the start and taking for granted all that she had had.

Perhaps when she has a chance like that again, an opportunity to escape and start a new life somewhere amazing, she would learn from her current screw up and make the choices she should to live a fantastic life. Felicie could only hope she would get such a chance someday soon.

...

 **Hope you've enjoyed my little one-shot for Ballerina and don't forget to check out my other stories! ;)**


End file.
